What does responsibility really mean?

Thursday

May 9, 2013 at 7:38 AM

What has happened to the concept of being dependable, honest and responsible adults in this country? We have lost the concept of what it means to be a conscientious member of society to the egocentricity of self-interest. In other words, people just don't care about others as much as they used to.

Sharon Myers

What has happened to the concept of being dependable, honest and responsible adults in this country? We have lost the concept of what it means to be a conscientious member of society to the egocentricity of self-interest. In other words, people just don't care about others as much as they used to.I'm not saying we should go back to the days when people were horrified what the neighbors would say if a woman wore slacks to church or if your son pierced his ears. I'm talking about the concept of responsibility. This thought started when I began watching the TV series "Mad Men." The show has been running for a few years, but I wasn't really interested until I ran across it on Netflix a few weeks ago. The show is about a group of men in an advertising agency on Madison Avenue in the early '60s. Beside the novelty of seeing people continuously smoke and drink, it is a time capsule of when men were the kings of the universe and women and minorities just weren't involved. The male characters are misogynistic, overbearing and morally corrupt on many occasions, but one of the things that kept coming back to me is how these captains of industry were so young. In one episode, they were threatened by the fact that the company was bringing in fresh blood. They were incensed that these youngsters were coming in to replace them. And I mean literally youngsters. The two who were to become junior ad agents were 19, and the "old guys" they were supposedly replacing were all ranging between 25 and 30 years old.It made me realize that back in the 1960s, by the time teens graduated high school they were already making plans for finding a job, buying a house, marrying and starting a family. Nowadays I wouldn't trust a 19-year-old to wash my car, but there was a time when your 20s wasn't about partying till you puke. It was a time when you worked your hardest to establish yourself as an adult, and you took pride in acting in a dependable manner. Some people would call this straight-laced and boring. I guess it is, but it was a different mentality than today. Today, we are shocked when a 20-something starts a successful company and makes lots of money. But back then there were scores of young men working in jobs that would require years of education and experience to fill today. Even if it wasn't some high-paying job, young men were expected to work back in that era. It was probably this instilled role of provider that made it so difficult for men to recognize women as equal contributors because up to that point women stayed in the home. I don't think women should depend on men or that women are somehow incapable of providing for themselves, but with the progression of equal rights and the evolution of the world in general, we lost that concept of responsibility. I'm glad that we are treated more fairly and people can express their thoughts more freely, but I grow frustrated with the overall lack of maturity in people. Everyone is more interested in what's in their own best interest regardless if it harms someone else. The attitude is that they aren't responsible for their own bad actions, and other people should take care of themselves. There are some people who don't believe it's necessary to take care of their family or that they should spend whatever they make on themselves first. We see surgically processed women on reality shows parading their overstated self-indulgence and materialistic men placing their value in the excessiveness of their possessions. This is the standard of what it means to be an adult in 2013? Sure we would all like to live our lives unfettered by daily drudges. We would all like to do exactly what we want, when we want, but that is a fantasy to which few are privileged. We have to grow up at some point and gladly shoulder the burdens of creating a secure home for all of those people in our lives. We must realize if we want something, we have to work for it without depending on another person to give it to you. And that is the meaning of responsibility.Sharon Myers is a married mother of two. She is a graduate of Lexington Senior High and received her bachelor's degree in journalism from East Carolina University.